About the Magazine
#HootyHoo is a publication
of the Stetson University
Athletic Department. All rights
reserved.
Designed
and
edited by the Stetson Athletic
Communications office, and
Keith Allen. Photography by
Jim Hogue, David Williams,
PhotosInMotion.net,
Jason
Lemmond, Cecil Copeland,
Stetson
University,
and
Stetson Athletics. Printed by
Independent Printing.

In November 2009, while filling out
her student-athlete questionnaire prior
to signing a National Letter-of-Intent with
the Stetson University softball program,
Meredith Owen listed one of her collegiate
goals as desiring to pitch and hit for four
years in college.
Little did she know what a pitcher
and what a hitter she would eventually
become.
A double all-conference selection in
2013, Owen posted a 22-10 record in the
circle and hit 11 home runs at the plate,
and in the process emerged as one of the
top two-way players in the nation.
Now a senior, Owen continues to
excel at both facets of the game. Already
with a league-leading 16 wins and a teamhigh nine home runs, she has helped
lead Stetson to a blistering 28-5 start and
lengthy 13-game winning streak.
Owen says her success on the softball
field has been the result of countless hours
of hard work and determination. In fact,
the Jackson, Miss., native started late,
trying the sport for the first time at the age
of 10. Back then, she knew her skills were
far behind those of her peers, who had
already been playing for years.
“At first, I was told to keep working
on my throws and catches, so I did that,”
Owen said. “Then I was told to keep
working on my hitting, so I did that. I kind of
watched myself progress through working
hard. I knew if I just kept doing that I could
hopefully get a Division I scholarship and
make it somewhere and do well.”
Owen also started pitching when she
was 10, but it wasn’t until the later part

#HootyHoo

of her career at Jackson Prep that she
started to see a lot of innings in the circle.
“I played a lot of third base until my
junior year,” Owen said. “After that, I
pretty much pitched all the time, which was
exhausting, but looking back now I see it
was really good for me mentally. It taught
me a lot of lessons.”
However, it was her career .496
average and 24 home runs that made
Owen an attractive recruit for some
big-time programs, including Ole Miss,
Mississippi State, Baylor, and LSU.
“LSU was the No. 1 school I was
considering because my mom and my
aunt both went there,” Owen said. “I went
to camps there, and I talked to the coach a
little bit. It is so funny because they talked
adamantly about my hitting, but they never
said anything about my pitching. Although
hitting has always been my favorite thing
of the two, I am still a pitcher at heart, and
I have loved pitching since I was 10. For
me, it wasn’t worth giving up.”
Along came Stetson and head coach
Frank Griffin, who was also quite interested
in Owen’s hitting abilities. However, he left
the door open for her to get an opportunity
to pitch as well, and Owen liked what she
heard.
“At the time, my pitching was not what
it could have been, so he told me I had
to work really hard if I wanted to pitch in
college,” Owen recalled. “I just put that in
my back pocket and started to work really
hard from then on out.”
“I thought she might develop as a
pitcher, depending on her work ethic,”
Griffin said. “However, I felt like she could

4

certainly hit at the Division I level, and
for that reason I was willing to take the
chance on her. It turned out her work ethic
is outstanding, and she developed into a
top-notch Division I pitcher. Also, we were
right about her hitting.”
The results have spoken for
themselves. Every year, Owen has seen
her batting average increase and her
ERA decrease. She has become just the
second player in conference history to
record 50 career wins and hit 25 career
home runs. She is currently the only
player in the NCAA with as many as seven
home runs and 14 victories this season.
The most important numbers for
Owen, however, are the digits in the wincolumn for the team. Not surprisingly, that
statistic, too, has increased every year
over the past four years.
“For me, it’s always been just trying to
find a way I can contribute to my team the
best way possible,” Owen said. “If that’s
pitching at the time, then I am going to go
out there and pitch my heart out. If they
need me to get in there and get an RBI,
that’s what I am going to try and do.”
Owen’s desire to pitch and hit for four
years in college was not the only goal she
listed on her questionnaire. She also listed
playing in the Women’s College World
Series. That has not happened for Owen,
at least not yet.
“I feel like the sky is the limit for this
team,” Owen said. “The more we play, the
more we mesh well together. We have a
great team, and as long as we stay humble
and stay hungry, I feel like we could go
anywhere.”

April-May 2014

Josh Powers Adds Offense to His Repertoire
Hitting a baseball is considered by
many to be one of, if not the most, difficult
feats in sports. Asking someone to hit a
round ball with a round bat while that ball
is moving, sometimes at speeds well over
90 miles per hour, requires a skill few can
master.
Now imagine being asked to hit after
not picking up a bat for two years. And
not only being asked to hit, but hit in the
middle of the lineup. Oh, and by the way,
you’re also going to be asked to be one of
the starting weekend pitchers.
Meet Stetson junior Josh Powers, a
local kid from New Smyrna Beach, who has
successfully added “hitter” to his collegiate
baseball résumé. A standout pitcher in
his first two seasons at Stetson, Powers
tossed 105.2 innings on the mound as a
sophomore and posted an outstanding
3.41 ERA. But this season, he’s made his
mark at the plate as well.
Through Stetson’s first 34 games,
Powers is hitting .289 with seven doubles
and 13 RBI in 90 at-bats. Not too shabby
for a guy who, prior to this season, hadn’t
stepped into a batter’s box since his senior
year of high school.
“I hit in high school, but when I got here
as a freshman our team was really good,”
said Powers. “I hit during fall practice, but
when spring came around they didn’t need
my bat. It was the same thing last year.”
Following the 2013 season, the
Hatters unexpectedly lost several offensive
options, and when Powers returned to
campus after the summer, the coaching
staff told him he would finally get a chance
to hit regularly in 2014.

#HootyHoo

“I hit the ball well during fall practice,”
he said. “Not as well as I would have
liked, but I got the job done. The coaches
thought I did a good job, and they put me
out there.”
Powers wasted no time in making an
impression at the plate, collecting a pair
of hits and two walks in Stetson’s season
opener against Ole Miss. The next day, he
had two more hits, including a double, and
drove in a run. Suddenly an offensive star
was born.
“I just try to keep everything on the
simplest of terms,” said Powers. “I get up
to the plate and think about seeing the
ball, and I hit it. I get lucky sometimes. I’ve
hit probably six balls down the third-base
line and the ball goes right over the base.
Other guys hit the ball harder than me and
hit it right at someone. I’m not scared. I’m
confident in whatever I do. I’m not going to
go out there and be passive.”
In comparison to his outstanding 2013
numbers, Powers has struggled somewhat
on the mound this season. He’s currently
the owner of a 2-3 record and 5.02 ERA.
But with half a season left, he knows that
both he and the Hatters have time to turn
their season around.
“I think we have underachieved as
a team,” he said. “We are capable of
playing a lot better than we have. I feel
like we come to the field ready to play, but
sometimes it doesn’t go our way. But that
doesn’t matter, because no matter what,
we are going to go out there and compete.”

Men’s Tennis Targets Strong Finish at A-Sun Championship
The Stetson University men’s tennis team is looking forward
to this month’s A-Sun Championship as a chance to finish out
the 2014 season on a high note. As of April 11, the Hatter men
stood at 10-8 overall and 5-2 in A-Sun play, having defeated
conference opponents USC Upstate, Mercer, Kennesaw State,
Lipscomb and Northern Kentucky.
Their five conference victories made them one of just three
schools with a handful of A-Sun wins this season, heading into
their final contest at FGCU before the three-day conference
championship, scheduled for April 17-19 at North Florida.
One of the highlights of the Hatters’ season thus far
was seeing their doubles pairing of Laurynas Antropikas and
Chester Espie crack the national rankings, as the duo was listed
in the No. 78 slot for the week of March 25, by the Intercollegiate
Tennis Association.
“Laurynas and Chester join a very select few players in the
proud history of the program to be nationally ranked,” associate
head coach Christophe Noblet said.
Antropikas and Espie’s biggest win of 2014 came on March
22 in DeLand, when the pair defeated No. 61 Yannick Zuern and
Caio Gomes of North Florida, 7-6, 7-5.
So far, Stetson has earned sweeps in matches versus
Georgia Southern (Feb. 2), Northwood (Feb. 22), and Mercer
(March 28). The Hatters have nearly swept Niagara (March 3),
as well as NKU (April 5), beating both schools by 6-1 scores.

Hans Adrian Riseng

Women’s Tennis Gears Up for A-Sun Championship
The Stetson University women’s tennis team is putting itself
in a good position heading into this year’s A-Sun Championship
Tournament, scheduled for April 18-20 at North Florida. As
of April 9, the Hatters stood at 15-5 overall and 5-3 in the
conference, having defeated A-Sun opponents USC Upstate,
Mercer, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb and Kennesaw State.
To reach double-digit win totals, the Stetson women reeled
off 10 straight victories, a streak that broke the all-time program
record and lasted from Jan. 19 (vs. Florida A&M) until March
14 (vs. USC Upstate). During the streak, the Hatters defeated
three schools (FIU, UNC Greensboro and Illinois State), which
they had never come out on top against before.
“I told our team that anytime you place yourself in the Stetson
women’s tennis record book, it’s a significant achievement,”
said Director of Stetson Tennis Pierre Pilote. “To be first in any
category is fantastic, and they should be proud of that.”
Stetson’s 10-match win streak topped the nine in a row it
compiled during the 1994 season. The Hatters also compiled
three shutouts during their run, and one player (Diana Bukajeva)
garnered A-Sun Player of the Week honors on two occasions.
Bukajeva took home the award once in February and another
time in March for her stellar play.
To go along with their 10-match win streak, the Hatters
have most recently compiled a stretch in which they have won
five straight matches in an eight-day window, defeating four
conference opponents March 28–April 5.
Stetson finishes out the season with a nonconference match
at UCF, before the conference championship in Jacksonville.

Diana Bukajeva

#HootyHoo

6

April-May 2014

Women’s Golf Looking for Return to Top of A-Sun
As coach Floyd Kerr and the Stetson
women’s golf team get set to take part in
the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship
Tournament April 14-16 in Georgia, the
Hatters need only look to the recent past
for inspiration.
It was just a couple of years ago that
Stetson completed a run of three straight
league tournament titles (2009-10-11),
and Kerr said his 2014 team has much in
common with those teams.
“The three years we won the
conference tournament, we were never
the favorites going in,” Kerr said. “I think
there is a lot to be said for that. When you
play the conference tournament, there is a
little bit different feeling when you go to the
first tee.”
The Hatters won’t be the favorites
this year when they walk to the first tee
at Pine Lakes Golf Club in Jekyll Island,
Ga. Stetson will be the No. 4 seed in
the tournament, behind Mercer, East
Tennessee State and Kennesaw State.
Kerr said that even though Mercer is
the top seed going in, the team he thinks
will set the pace is defending champion
ETSU.
“In my mind, East Tennessee, who
won on this course last year, is the stronger

team,” Kerr said. “If East Tennessee gets
out to a six- or eight-shot lead on the first
day of the tournament, they will be very
difficult to catch. If it is close after the first
and second day, then anyone could win.”
The Hatters will rely on a quartet of
senior players, along with one freshman,
to end a two-year dry spell at the A-Sun
Tournament. Kerr thinks that all five
players are peaking at the right time and
all have a chance to play very well.
“I am real pleased with where we are
with regard to ball-striking,” Kerr said. “If
we have a good three days up there, then
it is possible for us to beat the three teams
ranked ahead of us. I think we do have a
chance to win, and I think the girls think we
have a chance to win.”
Senior Ryan Ashburn, who is actually
fifth on the team in scoring average this
year, has been the Hatters’ best player
this spring. She posted consecutive top
20 finishes to start the spring season,
averaging 3-over-par per round.
Another senior, Mallory Viera, is
second on the team in scoring average
and is returning to a course where she
finished fourth in the league tournament
last year, posting an even par score for the
event.

“For us to be competitive at the
conference tournament, we will have to
have four good scores every day,” Kerr
said. “That is something we have been
lacking, and has been our biggest problem
this spring. We have not been getting four
good scores. When you have to count an
80, you can’t beat good people.”

Mallory
Viera

Men’s Golf With Nothing to Lose at A-Sun Tournament
Dustin
Dingus

#HootyHoo

First-year
men’s
golf
coach
Larry Watson doesn’t try to hide the
disappointment he feels over the play of his
team this year. The Hatters have struggled
to play well consistently, but have turned
in enough strong performances to hint at
what is possible.
“My outlook for this team is that we
were 10th last year and we had great
hopes that we would be improved this
year, but we are young,” Watson said.
“Improvement when you are young comes
a lot slower. It seems like these kids
sometimes get afraid of improving.”
A perfect example of that slow
improvement comes from the fact that
the Hatters have had their two best team
rounds this year in the second round of a
tournament. Those two rounds, a 280 in
the Boise State tournament in September
and a 286 at FAU in late March, were both
followed by less-than-stellar rounds.
“If you look at our history this year, our
first round is usually bad; then we have our
best round of the tournament in the second

7

round,” Watson said. “That is actually the
third time they have played a course, so
they understand it better, their planning is
better, and they always play better during
that second round.
For the Hatters to have a breakout
performance in the A-Sun Tournament, it
will take all five players giving their best
performances of the year for three straight
days. Stetson will enter the tournament
ranked ninth in the league and in the Golf
Stat rankings at No. 219. The two teams at
the top of those rankings are Mercer and
Kennesaw State, ranked 33rd and 35th
respectively.
The Stetson players who will compete
at The Legends Club at Château Élan
in Braselton, Ga., April 21-23 will be
sophomore Dustin Dingus, freshman
Dirk Kuehler, sophomore David Torres,
freshman Zach Stark, and junior Matt Taylor.
“I don’t have any expectations going
in,” Watson said. “I just want them to
go play. I just tell them to go have fun,
because that is what they do best.”

April-May 2014

Rachael Farrell Makes the Most of a Fifth-Year Opportunity

As a senior standout for The Citadel
indoor volleyball team, Rachael Farrell
had her postgraduate plans all figured out.
She wanted to stay at her alma mater to
begin her master’s degree while serving
as a graduate assistant coach.
But the best-laid plans often go astray,
and when Farrell’s opportunity fell through
during her final semester, she started
contacting coaches from all over the
country looking for an open GA spot.
One of those coaches to receive an
email from Farrell was then-Stetson head
coach Tim Loesch.
“Coach Tim got back to me and said,
‘We don’t have a GA position, but how
would you feel about playing sand for a
year to use up your eligibility?’” Farrell
said. “I said, ‘Do you want to let me come
play sand for a year? I would love to.’”
There was just one small problem.
Farrell had never had any formal sand
training. However, she got to work right
away and came down to Siesta Key, Fla.,
in June to play in a beach tournament with
current Hatter Taylor Kennedy. That is
when assistant coach Meghan Bryant got
her first look at Farrell playing sand.
“We actually had played The Citadel
in indoor, so we remembered her,” Bryant
said. “We had seen her in action. Actually,
she lit us up that game, so we knew what
kind of athlete she was. It was just a
matter of seeing her play sand.”

#HootyHoo

It didn’t take long for Bryant to see
Farrell’s potential. While many players
have difficulty making the transition from
indoor to sand, Farrell seemed to be
handling it quite well.
“She is an incredible athlete, she is
very strong, and she obviously had very
good training at The Citadel,” Bryant said.
“It was interesting, because she was still
learning the (sand) game, and you could
tell how much she didn’t understand some
of the basics.”
Learning curve aside, Bryant was still
impressed with Farrell’s ability to stay calm
under pressure.
“The thing that I really liked the most
about watching her play was her ability to
keep her composure,” Bryant added. “A
lot of players get easily frustrated in sand
when it is just two girls out there. Although
she was making little errors here and
there, she never let it affect her play. I
thought that was awesome.”
Soon after that tournament, Stetson
made a formal scholarship offer to Farrell,
which she eagerly accepted.
There was just one more small
problem.
“At that point, I had not been accepted
(to Stetson) yet. I had not even come to
visit,” Farrell said. “In a span of about three
weeks, I applied to Stetson, got accepted,
found an apartment, moved down here,
and started taking classes.”

8

Logistically, things were falling into
place for Farrell. But how would she
handle fitting in with her new team and
experiencing her first extended training in
sand volleyball?
“I did not realize how different playing
sand was,” Farrell said. “I felt like the fall
was a huge learning curve for me. I was
really thankful that sand was a spring
sport, because where I am now is nowhere
near where I was in the fall. The girls have
taken me in and helped me learn how
different everything is. It has been a blast,
and I love it. I really wish I had another
year that I could play.”
Farrell is making the most of her
one season of eligibility, going 8-6 with
teammate Julie Bassett at the No. 2 and
No. 3 positions. Farrell credits Bassett
with teaching her a lot of the nuances of
the game itself. The pair have helped lead
the third-year Stetson sand program to its
most successful season to date, with a
14-2 record through April 8.
“I feel really honored, really grateful
for this opportunity,” Farrell said. “I have
grown up always being on a sports team,
so going to school and not being on a
sports team just seemed like such a crazy
concept to me. I was so thankful to even
just be around the girls, so to be able to
contribute on the sand with the team is a
very humbling and amazing experience.”
Farrell and the Hatters will look to
capture the Atlantic Sun Conference
Championship April 18-19 in Fort Myers,
Fla. Although Farrell was not part of last
year’s team that came within a few points
of the title, she is already immersed in the
determination this year’s squad has to
accomplish its goal.
“I know it would mean the world to
me, and the whole team,” Farrell said
about winning the A-Sun title.
“The
returners have been working since the end
of conference last year. This team is the
most driven team I have ever been on.
From day one, it wasn’t, ‘Oh, I think we can
win the conference,’ it was, ‘We are going
to win the conference.’ Every day, we are
coming out and putting in everything we
can, working on every aspect trying to get
better. We know when it counts we are
going to finish it.”
The Hatters will be the No. 2 seed for
the double-elimination tournament and will
face No. 3 seed Jacksonville to open the
event. UNF is the No. 1 seed.

April-May 2014

Men’s Basketball Wraps Up 2013-14 Campaign

The
Stetson
University
men’s
basketball team capped off the 201314 season with its second straight trip to
the Atlantic Sun Tournament. The eighth
seeded Hatters took on Florida Gulf
Coast in Fort Myers as head coach Corey
Williams’ team squared off against the
Eagles in postseason play for the second
time in as many years.
FGCU took the A-Sun Tournament
rematch with the Hatters 77-55, putting
an end to their season and Williams’ first
as Stetson head coach. During his initial
year at the helm of the Hatter program,
Williams saw many highlights from his
team, including a three-game conference
win streak, as Stetson downed ETSU,
USC Upstate and Kennesaw State during
a one-week stretch in mid-January.
Williams’ club also compiled A-Sun
victories over Lipscomb and Jacksonville
en route to securing a berth in the postseason tournament with their five total
conference wins. During the 2013-14
campaign, Stetson saw great contributions
from its senior class of Willie Green,
Raymone Andrews, Aaron Graham and
Hunter Miller, who, as a unit, averaged 35
points per contest.

#HootyHoo

Leading the way was Green, who
netted 13.5 points per game, while Andrews
was tops in assists with 116. Graham led
the Hatters in 3-point field goals as he
converted on 40 of 120 attempts, while
Miller dished out 67 assists, second on the
team to only Andrews.
Some significant milestones were
also reached during the season, as
Graham became Stetson’s all-time leader
in 3-pointers, finishing his career with 246.
He also reached the 1,000-point plateau,
and was the 32nd player in program history
to do so. Meanwhile, Green became just
the sixth Hatter with 100 or more blocks
in a career as he finished the year with 41
and his career with 162.
Looking ahead toward 2014-15,
coach Williams has much to build on for
his second season on the Stetson bench,
as he saw two of his young stars win
A-Sun Newcomer of the Week awards this
past year. Both Brian Pegg (Jan. 20) and
Kentwan Smith (Feb. 3) were given the
honor within two weeks of each other. The
duo averaged close to 9 points and more
than five rebounds per contest, while each
played in at least 30 games. Pegg led all
Stetson players with 189 boards, while

9

Smith was second with 157.
The Hatters will welcome in Jonathan
Joseph (Orlando, Fla.), Grant Lozoya
(Westlake, Calif.), Divine Myles (Mobile,
Ala.), and Wyatt Sikora (Key Largo, Fla.)
as freshman newcomers next fall. Sikora
is the younger brother of current Stetson
player Kyle Sikora.

Individual Accolades
• Aaron Graham set the school-record most
career 3-pointers with 246.
• Aaron Graham became the 32nd player in
school history to score 1,000 career points.
• Willie Green became the sixth player in
school history to record 100 career blocks.

April-May 2014

Women’s Basketball Reaches New Heights in 2013-14

Amber Porter
A school-record 27 wins, a lengthy 16game winning streak that ranked among
the nation’s longest, and the program’s
first-ever NCAA postseason victory
highlighted the historic 2013-14 Stetson
women’s basketball season.
With a squad of just four returners and
six newcomers, head coach Lynn Bria and
her staff went into the season uncertain on
how well the team would perform.
“If we get better every day, I think we
will have a chance at the end,” Bria said
prior to the season. “I don’t know how
good we are going to be early, but I think
the more we play together, the better this
team is going to get.”
The Hatters weathered a tough travel
schedule for the preseason WNIT before
picking up some momentum with a 90-74
win in the home opener vs. Indiana State,
followed by a 77-63 road win at BethuneCookman. The victories signified that the
young Hatter squad might be gelling faster
than expected.
“I am very pleased with our progress,”
Bria said after the Bethune game.
“Honestly, I am pleasantly surprised. We
have come along a little further than where
I thought we would be at this point and
time. However, our main goal is to be a
good team in January and February, and
we just have to keep improving.”
After a poor outing in the next game at
Florida State, the Hatters made their first
major statement of the season, scoring

101 points in a 35-point road win at Florida
A&M. Freshman Brianti Saunders netted
30 points en route to A-Sun Player of the
Week honors. The team showed just how
good it could be on offense, topping the
century mark for the first time in 24 years.
Stetson carried a long home-court
winning streak against nonconference
opponents into its Dec. 17 game against
Charlotte. The 49ers had defeated the
Hatters the previous season in Charlotte,
and Stetson was looking to even the
score. It was also the Hatter debut for
Myeisha Hall, who completed her one year
of residency at Stetson after transferring
from Old Dominion. Hall’s 12 points
and key offensive rebound with a minute
left helped Stetson come away with an
impressive 83-81 victory.
“I don’t think we would have won this
game without her,” Bria said about Hall
after the victory. “Myeisha just came in
and made some big plays for us.”
After waiting 24 years for a 100-point
game, it took Stetson just four contests
to do it again, this time with a 103-72
victory over Murray State in the Hatter
Classic. Stetson survived a scare from
Nicholls State in the second game of the
tournament to complete a challenging
nonconference slate with an 8-4 record.
“If somebody would have said (before
the season) we would be 8-4 I would have
said you’re crazy,” Bria said. “They have
really meshed well together. We still do

#HootyHoo 10

some things that show our youth and show
that we haven’t played together very long,
but overall, we are much further ahead
than I thought we’d be at this time.”
Stetson’s lone senior, Sasha Sims,
was instrumental in the Hatters’ hot start,
leading the team and the league with an
18.2 points-per-game scoring average.
The Hatters opened Atlantic Sun
play at Fort Myers, and despite a sluggish
second half that cost the team a victory,
the Hatters learned from their setback and
began one of the longest winning streaks
in school history. The Hatters zipped
through January with wins over USC
Upstate, ETSU, Mercer, Kennesaw State,
UNF, Jacksonville, Northern Kentucky
and Lipscomb, and then cruised through
February and early March with wins over
the same teams.
In addition, different heroes seemed
to emerge in every game:
• Amber Porter scored 28 points at
Kennesaw State
• Jama Sharp hit seven 3-pointers against
Jacksonville
• Cherisse Burris registered 18 points and
12 rebounds in a come-from-behind-win
vs. UNF.
• C.J. Coddington recorded her first
career double-double at Lipscomb.
• Myeisha Hall netted 17 points at ETSU.
• Brianti Saunders scored 20 points at
home vs. Lipscomb.

April-May 2014

Women’s Basketball Reaches New Heights in 2013-14
Even Bria herself helped inspire one
comeback, smashing her clipboard on the
scorer’s table and cutting her finger in the
process. She received a technical foul
from the official, but her team shook off its
sluggish play to rally for the victory.
“If it takes me getting fired up and
getting a bloody finger, I have a lot of
fingers,” Bria quipped. “I have more fingers
than boards.”
More often than not, however, the
Hatters were clicking on all cylinders,
and their unselfish play led to a balanced
attack and high-scoring games.
“We are just a confident team right
now,” Burris said during the season. “We
are not selfish with the ball. We pass the
ball around and look for the open man. We
like to score for each other, so it is really
good that we are all in sync.”
All told, Stetson ran its winning streak
to 16 games, which ranked as the fourthlongest streak in the NCAA and smashed
the old program record of 11 straight
victories.
The Hatters had placed themselves
in the exact position they hoped for: a
winner-take-all showdown with FGCU
with the regular-season title and the No.
1 seed and home-court advantage for
the conference tournament at stake. In
an epic game that featured 10 ties, 17
lead changes, and a grueling five-minute
overtime, a late foul and two free throws
sealed a 1-point win for FGCU.
“I thought we battled, and I thought
we played extremely hard,” Bria said. “I am
not going to lie – That was a really tough
way to lose the game.”
The Hatters settled for the No. 2 seed
for the conference tournament, but after
earning a quarterfinal win over Kennesaw
State and a semifinal victory over USC
Upstate, Stetson was once again playing a
winner-take-all game against FGCU. This
time, however, the game was contested on
the Eagles’ home court. Despite a 6-point
rally in the final minute of regulation
and another comeback in overtime, the
Hatters fell 2 points short of repeating as
conference champions.
“We never gave up,” Bria said. “We
don’t have anything to hang our heads
about. It was a great game. It was just a
little bit of a better game for them.”
During the Hatters’ semifinal win over
USC Upstate, Sims became the program’s
all-time leading scorer when she collected
her 1,571st career point.

“It’s unbelievable what she’s done,”
Bria said about Sims. “She’s a good kid to
coach, and she’s a great team player. She
probably could have gotten [the record] a
long time ago if she were more selfish.”
The Hatters earned a berth in the
WNIT, marking the team’s fourth straight
season in postseason play. This time,
however, Stetson would not leave emptyhanded. Sims scored a game-high 20
points and the Hatters’ defense held Miami
to 29-percent shooting in a historic 70-63
win in the first round of the WNIT.
“I thought it was a great game,” Bria
said. “We executed well. It came down to
a few big plays. I’m really proud of our kids
to come down here and get a win, and it’s
really good for us and good for our program
to finally win a postseason game.”
Stetson would fall short in its WNIT
second-round game at USF, bringing its
historic 2013-14 season to a close. For
a team that had to reinvent itself in the
preseason and gel together as quickly as
they did, and then to come within mere
points of a regular-season and postseason
championship, the journey was nothing
short of remarkable.
“I never dreamed that after losing six
seniors, these kids would do what they
did,” Bria said. “At the beginning of the
year, I thought we would be somewhere in
the middle of the pack, and maybe have a
chance at the end. When you look at the
body of work, they did a great job.”
Sasha Sims

#HootyHoo 11

Team Accomplishments
• Set the school record for most wins (27),
most conference wins (16), and most road
wins (13)
• Participated in the A-Sun Championship
game and in NCAA postseason play for
the fourth straight year (NCAA: 2011, 2013;
WNIT: 2012, 2014)
• Earned first-ever NCAA postseason victory,
70-63 at Miami on March 20
• Posted a school-record 16-game win streak
Jan. 9-March 1
• Compiled 15-game home-court winning
streak from Feb. 28, 2013-March 1, 2014
• Posted a school-record 16-game conference
win streak from Jan. 9-March 1
• Posted a school-record eight-game road win
streak from Jan. 16-Feb. 22
• Tied the school record for most home wins in
a single-season (14)
• Set the school record for most wins in a twoyear period (51), three-year period (74), and
four-year period (94)
• Reached the 20-win mark faster than any
other team in school history (25 games)
• Went undefeated in the month of February
for the first time ever (8-0)
• Averaged 79.3 points per game and had five
players average in double figures
• Set school single-season records for most
points (2,774), field goals (965), 3-point field
goals (226), free throws (618), rebounds
(1,485), blocked shots (178), and games
played (35)

Individual Accolades

• Sasha Sims finished her career as the
school’s all-time leader in points (1,617),
blocks (147), field goals att. (1,365), minutes
played (4,070), and games played (135).
She did not miss a single game in her career.
• With 129 blocked shots on the season, Amber
Porter set the school single-season record
(smashing the old record of 72), and recorded
the second-highest single-season blocks
total in A-Sun history and the fifth-highest
blocks total for a freshman in NCAA history.
• Head coach Lynn Bria earned her 250th
career victory and her 100th victory at Stetson.

Kelsey Waters
On Feb. 16, the Stetson softball team
donned their pink jerseys to help raise
awareness for those fighting cancer. While
there were a number of survivors in the
stands, there was one on the field, serving
as an inspiration for all of those touched by
the deadly disease.
“I actually was so in shock that I don’t
remember what my first thoughts were,”
said Hatter freshman Kelsey Waters, who
recalled the first moments after finding out
she had cancer. “It didn’t really register
until the drive back home when I looked in
the rearview mirror and saw my dad crying
in the front seat.”
Waters, a Hawthorne, Fla., native,
made that long drive back home in
September 2011, in what was the beginning
of her junior year of high school. Her
diagnosis was papillary thyroid cancer, a
growth on the thyroid gland in Waters’ throat.
“I was at a softball tournament in
Sarasota, and I started running a fever
and then became really pale,” Waters
remembered of her initial symptoms. “Then
when I got back home, I had a super-sore
throat, and I thought it was strep, but after
going to the doctor’s office to check it out,
they thought it was meningitis.”
After some rigorous tests and an
eventual ultrasound, Waters was given
the news that no 16-year-old athlete would
expect.

“I remember my mom sitting behind
me on the table, and she just started
rubbing my back,” Waters said. “My mom
told me that I turned around (after hearing
the news) and said, ‘I don’t know why this
is happening, but God has a reason.’”
With that reason still yet unknown,
Waters and her family braced for what lay
ahead, which included frequent hospital
visits in the months to come.
“The cancer was sitting on top of
my thyroid in a nodule-type form,” she
explained of her condition. “In my heart and
in my gut though, I knew for a 100-percent
fact that I was going to be OK. I can’t
describe it, but I just knew I was going to
be fine.”
With a positive attitude and a loving
and supportive family by her side, Waters
went in for surgery the next month so she
could begin taking her first steps on the
road to recovery.
“I did not know this until after the
surgery, but there was no way to tell
where the cancer had spread, so it was all
in the dark until the doctors went in and
looked at my thyroid,” Waters recalled of
her situation. “It could have spread into
my voice box, throat or my lymph nodes,
and there was a chance it could have even
made it into my bloodstream.”
Fortunately for Waters, the doctors
found that the cancer was contained to

#HootyHoo 13

just the thyroid, and she knew she would
be able to make a full recovery. Still, the
process took a toll on not just the 16-yearold patient, but those who cared for her.
“Seeing how bad all of this tore up
my parents and my friends, I realized that
I needed to be strong for them,” Waters
said.
During her recovery, that strength was
fed by the love and support of not just her
immediate family, but by her second family.
Members of the Keystone Heights High
School softball team as well as her travelball club came out in full force to show their
support and appreciation for their battling
teammate.
“A lot of donations had come in from
my friends to help pay for gas, food and
medical treatments,” an appreciative
Waters remembered. “My travel-ball team
made T-shirts, stickers and cancer bows
with my number on it. They were my
second family, and they helped so much,
just by being there, supporting me and
telling me that it was going to be OK.”
By February Waters was feeling well
enough to get back on the field and prepare
for the season ahead. Even though her
recovery was a relatively short one, that
didn’t mean it was without significant side
effects.
“It was just so tiring because of
the process that I had to go through,
which included going on a special diet
for radiation treatment,” she explained.
“After the radiation, I was able to start
trying medicines which would replace the
hormones that my thyroid would make.
That’s where it became interesting,
because if you are on too low of a dose
you become very lethargic, and if you are
on too high of a dose, you will be super
hyper.”
Despite everything she had gone
through that season, Waters was healthy
enough, but, more importantly, strong
enough to contribute to her team in a big
way. The then junior batted .549 and was
named a Junior Class All-American en
route to helping lead her Keystone Heights
team to the state semifinals later that
season.
Fast-forward two years, and Waters
has traded in her high school’s red, white
and blue uniforms for that of Stetson’s
green and white threads, knowing she has
beaten the odds and in the process proved
to herself what she is capable of.

April-May 2014

STETSON HATTERS MOBILE APP
NOW AVAILABLE ON
iPHONE and ANDROID
Download the Stetson Hatters mobile app, and get all the latest in Stetson Athletics in a simple,
interactive interface on your mobile device. Stay connected to the latest news, scores, schedules,
and rosters for all your favorite Hatters sports teams!
The Premium version of this app grants access to live audio of Stetson games and exclusive
on-demand video from Hatter Vision, including press conferences, player and coach interviews,
and much more!

#HootyHoo 14

April-May 2014

Tip of the Hat: Griffin Earns 600th Win in Stetson Dugout

Frank Griffin

It’s a Girl!

Stetson University head softball coach Frank Griffin’s 2014
season has been a historic one. In his first game of the year, he
won his 800th career game, making him just the 40th coach at the
Division I level to accomplish the feat. No. 800 came on opening
day (Feb. 7) at Patricia Wilson Field, when Stetson defeated
Michigan State 4-1 during the Stetson Lead-Off Classic.
The majority of Griffin’s 800 wins have come in DeLand,
where he compiled 574 wins heading into the 2014 campaign. 225
were earned at Winthrop, where he served as head of their softball
program 1983-89.
Through April 8, the Hatters have compiled a 28-5 overall
record and a 12-2 mark in the A-Sun. Griffin won his 600th career
game as head coach of Stetson on April 5 at Northern Kentucky,
with a 8-0 victory over the Norse.
“I have been very fortunate to be able to recruit the kind of
athletes to win those games,” Griffin said of his milestones. “I also
have been very fortunate to have had the kind of coaching staff to
help win those games, and right now I am blessed with both.”

Congratulations to Hatter baseball coach Brian Pruitt and his wife, Megan Pruitt, on the birth of their daughter:

Stetson Cheer
Razzmatazz Razzmatazz
Hatter Hooty Hoo
We are STETSON
Who the heck are you?
Hullaballoo Hat Knuckle
Flim flam flop
We are STETSON
And we can’t be TOPPED

April-May 2014

Glenn Wilkes to Enter College Basketball Hall of Fame

Already a member of the Stetson
University Sports Hall of Fame, legendary
men’s basketball coach Glenn Wilkes will
be inducted into the National Collegiate
Basketball Hall of Fame in November, as
announced by the National Association of
Basketball Coaches, late last month.
Wilkes roamed the Stetson sidelines
for 36 years, leading the Hatters to an
unparalleled era of success. During his 36year coaching career, which came entirely
at Stetson, Wilkes won 552 games and
achieved 27 winning seasons.
Joining Wilkes in the Class of 2014
are Grant Hill, Darrell Griffith, Shaquille
O’Neal, Zelmo Beaty, Dale Brown, Gary
Williams and Howard Garfinkel. The
group will be inducted Sunday, Nov. 23, in
Kansas City, Mo., as part of a three-day
celebration of college basketball.
The Wilkes era began in DeLand
during the 1957-58 season and ran
consecutively through the 1992-93
campaign. He led the Hatters to a schoolrecord 22-win season first in 1969-70 and
then again in 1974-75. Wilkes also took
Stetson basketball from the NAIA ranks to
the NCAA Division I level.

In addition to his accomplishments
on the court, Wilkes served the basketball
community by sponsoring the first coaching
clinic in the South, the first basketball clinic
for boys, the first basketball clinic for girls,
and the first officials’ clinic. He is also the
author of seven basketball-related books,
including Fundamentals of Basketball
Coaching and Basketball’s Three-Point
Shot.
Wilkes’ experience and expertise were
not just coveted at the collegiate level,
as from 1994 to 1998, he worked as an
advanced scout for the NBA’s Los Angeles
Lakers. The longtime Hatter head coach is
also a member of the Florida and Central
Florida Sports Hall of Fames and in 2000
was given the Central Florida Amateur
Athlete Lifetime Achievement Award.
The National Collegiate Basketball
Hall of Fame is located in the College
Basketball Experience, next to the Sprint
Center in Kansas City. In 2006, the
first class was inducted into the newly
formed Hall of Fame. That class included
the game’s inventor, James Naismith,
and possibly its greatest coach in John
Wooden.

#HootyHoo 17

April-May 2014

Commentary: Assistant Athletic Director Ricky Hazel

With the 2014 NCAA Men’s Basketball
Tournament now in the record books, I
wanted to take a minute to send out some
thanks.
While March Madness is a national
phenomenon, attracting the attention
of both casual and die-hard collegebasketball fans from all walks of life, few
know what it takes to put on the event.
For me, serving as the Tournament
Manager for Orlando was an 18-month
odyssey, and would not have been possible
without the hard work and dedication of
literally hundreds of people.
The journey to Orlando started in the
summer of 2012 when Stetson Director of
Athletics Jeff Altier informed me that we
had put in a bid, along with the Central
Florida Sports Commission, to host in
either 2014 or 2015. He also informed me
that, if we received a bid, I would serve as
Tournament Manager.
We found out in November of 2012 that
we would indeed host in 2014, and from
that moment on, my life became centered
on the NCAA basketball tournament.
Let me take a quick step back before
going on.
I have worked in college athletics for
more than 20 years now, but I have never
worked at a school that has been fortunate
enough to send a team to the NCAA’s
biggest show. With that said, before

embarking on this journey as Tournament
Manager, the last time I had even attended
an NCAA tournament game was in 1987,
when I was a junior in college.
That year, my alma mater, Alabama,
had its best season ever. They won the
Southeastern Conference regular season
and tournament titles under coach Wimp
Sanderson and earned a No. 2 seed to the
NCAA tournament.
I was on hand as that team -- which
was led by All-American Derrick McKey
and standouts like Terry Conner, Michael
Ansley, Jim Farmer and Mark Gottfried
-- easily dispatched North Carolina A&T
and New Orleans in the first two rounds,
earning a date against Providence College
in Louisville.
At that point, few outside the fledgling
Big East Conference knew anything about
the Friars, their head coach or star player.
Of course, the head coach at Providence
in 1987 was Rick Pitino, and the star
player was Billy Donovan. I followed the
Tide to Louisville, fully expecting an easy
victory over Providence for a date with topseeded Georgetown.
Instead, Donovan put on a shooting
clinic and led the Friars past Alabama, and
then over Georgetown into the Final Four.
Ironically, three of the principal characters
from that first NCAA experience played
a part this time. Pitino was here with his

#HootyHoo 18

defending champion Louisville Cardinals,
Donovan was here with his top-ranked
Gators, and Gottfried was here with his
North Carolina State team.
It was 26 years before I attended
another NCAA tournament game. Last
spring I went to Philadelphia, along with
James Stem from Stetson, and Jennifer
Lastik and Brent Nelson from the CFSC, to
observe operations for second- and thirdround games.
There I witnessed Florida Gulf Coast’s
victory over Georgetown for the start of
the #DunkCity phenomenon. I had seen
FGCU’s last loss before the tournament,
against Stetson at the Edmunds Center
just a couple of weeks earlier.
But our focus in Philadelphia wasn’t
on the games, it was on the event itself.
Jen took hundreds of photos and took
detailed notes as we questioned the
tournament staff in Philly, which was being
run by Temple University. We spent much
of our time looking at the setup of the
facility, signage, hospitality, and all of the
other little things that go into hosting this
event.
By the time we went to Philadelphia,
our local organizing committee had
already been formed and started meeting.
Hosting the event would be a partnership
between Stetson, the CFSC and Orlando
Ventures, which operates the Amway

April-May 2014

Commentary: The End of a Long Road

Center. We began the push to sell tickets
for the 2014 tournament even before the
2013 championship started.
Over the summer, the NCAA hosted
a Tournament Managers’ seminar in
Indianapolis. During the two days at
the headquarters, we went through the
Tournament Manager’s manual with a
fine-toothed comb. We met with and heard
from all of the NCAA Men’s Basketball
Championship staff, people who spend all
of their time, 12 months a year, planning
for March Madness.
We were able to put faces to the
names of the people we would work with
in preparation for the tournament. The
guidance and insight we received during
that seminar, and in the months that
followed, were invaluable.
In addition to pushing ticket sales,
much planning went into hosting the
tournament in Orlando. Community leaders
in Orange County came together in support
of the event and helped by providing many
of the hundreds of volunteers who worked
at the tournament.

It was truly a team effort that went into
hosting in Orlando. The list of people who
contributed to the success would fill up
three pages. While I can’t mention them all,
I do want to mention several members of
the Stetson Athletics staff who had a huge
hand in making the event run smoothly.
First and foremost is Jamie Bataille,
who served as Media Coordinator. Few
other jobs were more thankless or filled
with more headaches, and he dealt with
all of it with poise and a positive attitude.
Special thanks to women’s basketball
coach Lynn Bria for understanding why
Jamie could not be with her team for the
A-Sun Tournament.
Others on the Stetson staff who
were heavily involved and did a great
job included James Stem (practice
coordinator), David Weisser and Chet
Hesson (band and cheer liaisons), Glenn
Brickey and Adam Deimling (training
support), Kevin Jurenko and his crew
(locker rooms and laundry), Jeff Higgins
(ball kid coordinator), and Jesse Tucker
and Laura Mason (credential distribution),
as well as Drs. Bruce Rankin and Mark
Hollmann for giving of their time.
Others associated with Stetson who
helped out, either leading up to or during
the tournament, include Lisa Browning,
Dan Forcella, Charlie Franklin, Stacy
Turner, Ernie Peterson, Virginia Sheppa,
Natalia DiFerdinand and Dr. Ben Goss.

#HootyHoo 19

Thanks also to the staff from the CFSC
(especially Jen Lastik and Kyle Sturley),
the great staff at the Amway Center, all of
the student volunteers we had from both
Stetson and Full Sail, and the many great
professionals from across the state who
volunteered to come to Orlando to lend a
hand.
Also, thanks to Director of Athletics
Jeff Altier for having the faith to put this
project in my hands and his guidance
throughout.
It was quite a ride and one that has
forever changed the way I will look at
March Madness.
Next year, the NCAA tournament
returns to Florida, as Jacksonville hosts
the second and third rounds. Their crew
was on hand in Orlando for the first two
days, and I wish them nothing but good
luck as they embark on their journey
toward March Madness.
Ricky Hazel (left) and Jeff Altier (right)

April-May 2014

Hatters Football Pointed Toward Fall

Cole Mazza
The Stetson football team completed
spring practices earlier than most any
other team in the nation, and that was
totally by design.
While the work the team got in during
the 15 spring practice sessions was
important, it is the work the players will do
in the weeks and months ahead that will
have the largest impact during the fall.
Stetson coach Roger Hughes said it
was no secret that his team did not match
up well physically against the other teams
in the Pioneer Football League last year,
but he hopes the gap will be much closer
in year two.
“Our greatest area of improvement
has to be off the field,” Hughes said.
“With the age of our kids, we should see
exponential improvement in strength, size
and quickness.
“We designed our offseason, and
our spring practice, to maximize the
physiological changes we are going to
see. We emphasized speed enhancement
early, and now, after spring practice, we
are focused on making their strength more
functional.”
On the field during the spring, the
focus was on simplification of schemes.
The result, from an offensive standpoint,
was more yards and more points scored
during the spring game.
“We had to weed out the schemes
that don’t make sense,” Hughes said.
“When you are practicing against yourself,
you can be lulled to sleep by what works.

Basically, if you’re not running something
that you can run against your best
opponent, then you are wasting your time.”
Specifically on the offensive side of
the ball, the focus was on running the ball
more effectively and protecting against
turnovers.
Results from the spring game indicate
that the run game is better. Combined, the
Hatters averaged better than 4.6 yards per
rush attempt in the spring game, up from
the 3.0 yards per attempt last fall.
The battle against turnovers is still a
work in progress. There were four in the
spring game – two for each team – but two
of those came on the first two plays of the
scrimmage.
“With the exception of the sloppiness
that we started out with, with two turnovers
on the first two plays, we did a better job
protecting the ball,” Hughes said.
The one thing spring practice, and the
spring game in particular, showed is that
the Hatters now have four quarterbacks
capable of leading the team. All four
played well in the spring game, and the
competition between them, according to
their coach, is making them all better.
Returning starter Ryan Tentler had
the best game among the four, but the
gap from first to fourth was not very wide,
with backups Jonathan Jerozal, Blake
Plattsmier and Louis Pappas all posting
solid numbers.
Tentler ran for 70 yards and a
touchdown while passing for 160 yards
and two scores for the White team, while
Jerozal threw for a pair of scores while
completing 11-of-18 passes for the Green.
Plattsmier, who rushed for 60 yards, and
Pappas both threw for 142 yards.
Beyond the quarterbacks, who
accounted for 122 of the combined 283
rushing yards, Hughes was also happy
with the progress his running backs have
made.
“I thought our running backs ran more
physically than they have in the past,
and that meant they were breaking more
tackles,” Hughes said. “Jerami Singleton
had his best day, and I was happy with the
way Cole Mazza and Mike Yonker ran the
ball.”
At the end of the spring, it is that duo,
Yonker and Mazza, who are at the top of
the depth chart in the backfield with Tentler.
Rob Coggin and Darius McGriff are the
projected starters at receiver, while Austin
Marks is atop the depth chart at tight end.

#HootyHoo 20

The offensive line is mostly the same
as it was at the end of the season, with
Griffin Vari at left tackle, Fletcher Eldemire
at center, and Blake Manning and Matthew
Wawrzyniak on the right side. The lone
change is at left guard, where Tyler Magill
finished the spring as the starter in place
of Patrick Fogarty, who missed all of spring
drills following offseason surgery.
On the defensive side, the front three
for the Hatters are Davion Belk, Billy Walsh
and Morris Eguakun. The linebacking
corps was hit by injuries, but Ignacio
Madrid and David Lazear hold down two
spots, while Devyn Jessmer and Ryan
Gildea come back from injury to compete
with Joseph Morris.
The secondary returns with Donald
Payne, Ryan Powers and Chris Atkins
back as the leaders. Glenn Adesoji is
at the corner opposite Atkins, while the
second Dawg Safety position is wide open
due to injuries.
For the rest of the spring, and through
the summer, the Hatters will be focused on
conditioning. Almost any day of the week,
you can see players on the practice field
doing conditioning and agility drills, in
addition to some yoga.
“I think there is a greater sense of
urgency among the kids, because they
now know what they have to do in order
to have a chance to win,” Hughes said.
“They have seen the really good teams
in our league, and they have a better
sense of what they have to do to compete
in the Pioneer League. Hopefully we will
continue growing as we go.”